Consanguineous marriage and rare bleeding disorders

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Rare bleeding disorders (RBDs) are a heterogeneous group of bleeding disorders. Consanguineous marriage is the favorite partnership in many communities among a population of more than a billion. Consanguineous marriages allow the defective recessive genes in RBDs to remain in the family. Clinical approach to RBDs is not as straightforward as typical bleeding disorders, which are secondary to scarcity and variation of RBDs. However, in many developing countries, the limitations of diagnostic facilities, the supply of therapeutic coagulation concentrates, health budgets, and optimal health-care infrastructures may intensify the clinical practice of RBDs.

Areas covered: The author addresses the role of consanguineous marriage in the incidence of RBDs and what preventive steps can be considered to minimize the incidence of RBDs. A literature review of PubMed and google Scholar was conducted in November of 2020 using the relevant keywords.

Expert opinion: This review addresses the prevalence of consanguineous marriages in Middle Eastern countries and the various reasons behind the coexistence of consanguineous marriage with RBDs. Finally, prevention steps that may be considered by health-care systems to minimize the incidence of rare bleeding disorders have been discussed. Health-care systems should train partners with the intention of consanguineous marriage on the downside of consanguinity.

KEYWORDS:

• Rare bleeding disorders
• consanguineous marriage
• von Willebrand disease (vWD)
• platelet disorders

Article highlights

• Consanguineous marriage is the preferred partnership among more than a billion individuals.

• It may promote the transition of the faulty genes, including the genes of rare bleeding disorders to offspring.

• The incidence and frequency of rare bleeding disorders are higher in consanguineous marriage nations.

• Learning spouses who are mindful of the disadvantages of consanguineous marriage will decrease the risk of having affected offspring.

• Performance of prenatal diagnosis can minimize the birth of neonates with rare bleeding disorders.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Vice-Chancellor of Research at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences for funding this study (Grant number: 991372).

Declaration of interest

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosure

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.